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Darlene Oliver Hightower Joins ChangeLab Solutions Board

Darlene Oliver Hightower Joins ChangeLab Solutions Board

February 5, 2018

ChangeLab Solutions is pleased to welcome Darlene Oliver Hightower to our board of directors! Darlene is associate vice president for community engagement and practice at Rush University Medical Center, where she partners with interdisciplinary teams to meet community benefit mandates, mitigate health inequities, and implement community outreach programs. She describes how her work in the West Side Total Health Collaborative, a partnership of institutions and organizations investing in community health and social change, aligns with the core values of ChangeLab Solutions: “The collaborative is a multi-sector, multi-stakeholder, place-based strategy that puts the voice of the community at its center. Our goal is to improve life expectancy outcomes by addressing the social determinants of health. The collaborative also recognizes the importance of advocacy and policy in this work.”

In past positions, Darlene managed an $8 million federal AmeriCorps grant for Public Allies’ national service apprenticeship program and worked to address health disparities for African American women at the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force, launching community-based outreach programs and raising more than $1 million in funding. She was a partner in a law firm handling civil rights litigation and serves as an administrative law judge with the Chicago Commission on Human Relations.

When asked about her new role, Darlene explains, “I am excited to join the board because ChangeLab Solutions uses a multidisciplinary approach to the work. I think diverse perspectives bring the best solutions. Here, those with legal backgrounds, public health backgrounds, community engagement, and other skills are all working together to improve health outcomes. I also like the fact that ChangeLab Solutions provides toolkits to replicate programs or policies that have been successful across the country. That means the organization can have a bigger impact.”